Curriculum Vitae – Dr Mike Ryder

I am an interdisciplinary researcher and award-winning teacher with a background in professional marketing and web content. My research interests include: biopolitics, science fiction, robotics, AI, ethics, consumption, reflective practice and digital marketing.

Away from academia, I have worked in a number of communications and marketing-based roles including professional ghostwriter, content writer and web editor in sectors as diverse as healthcare, video games and higher education. I have also managed several key web projects at Lancaster University, UCLan and CCCU. I am also director at Mental Capacity Ltd, a company providing training to health and care professionals working under the Mental Capacity Act (2005). If you have any questions about my experience, or availability, please get in touch.

Dr Mike Ryder, academic and marketing professional
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Education

October 2020 to August 2022 – Lancaster University, Lancaster

  • Postgraduate teaching qualification completed while working as a full-time at Lancaster University

October 2016 to January 2020 – Lancaster University, Lancaster

  • Interdisciplinary AHRC-funded research project completed in minimum term (three years)
  • Supervised by Professor Arthur Bradley and Dr Brian Baker
  • Examined by Dr Mark Lacy and Dr Will Slocombe
  • Thesis title: ‘Citizen Robots: Biopolitics, the Computer, and the Vietnam Period’

The Vietnam War coincided with an intense period of technological change that marked a significant turning point in the relationship between the citizen and the state. While Michel Foucault describes Vietnam as ‘the gates of our world’, my thesis argues that Vietnam stands rather as the gates of our biopolitical world – a period in which Foucault’s original concept of biopolitics is reborn in the computer age.  It reads technological, social and political developments alongside key works of American science fiction literature published during the Vietnam period (1955–1975). In doing so, it charts how human subjects are complicit in the means of their own oppression, and the ethical implications of the blurred line between the human and the machine.

Sept 2012 to Sept 2014 – Brunel University, Uxbridge

  • Awarded a Distinction at Masters level.
  • Received an A+ for my dissertation: ‘The Compliance Function: Participation and Transgression in Flowers for Algernon and Robinson Crusoe‘.
  • Professor William Watkin described my dissertation as the ‘best dissertation I have marked on an MA program at Brunel‘. 

Sept 2007 to July 2010 – Brunel University, Uxbridge

  • First Class Honours Degree.
  • Won the ‘Gompertz Prize for English’.

A-Levels

Sept 2004 to July 2006 – Thanet College, Broadstairs

  • A-Levels in Maths (A) and Physics (A)
  • AS-Levels in English (A) and Film Studies (A)

Sept 2002 to July 2004 – Dane Court Grammar School, Broadstairs

  • A-Levels in History (A), Government and Politics (B), Business and Economics (B) and General Studies (A)
  • AS-Level in Sociology (A)

GCSEs

  • 11 GCSEs A–C (7 A*, 2 A, 2 B)

Academia

Book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles

  • ‘Role of science fiction in conceptualising the reproductive future’, Medical Humanities [e-pub ahead of print] (2025) [article]
  • ‘Interdisciplinarity, huh?’, Journal of Customer Behaviour, 23(4), 272–283 (2024) [article]
  • ‘Ethics and Autonomy in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest’, Extrapolation, 65(3), 287–302 (2024) [article]
  • ‘Using OODA Loops to Build Sustainable Practice into Business Education’ (2024) [book chapter]
  • ‘Re-routing development in peripheral regions: exploiting anchor institution networks for micro/SME enterprise growth and innovation’ Journal of Place Management and Development (2023) [article]
  • ‘Are Internships Worth the Effort? Time to Reconceptualize Work-Based Learning for Building Protean Careers’, Studies in Higher Education (2023) [article]
  • ‘The Literature of Drones: Ethics and Remote Killing in Ender’s Game‘, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction (Spring 2023) [article]
  • ‘Rethinking reflective practice: John Boyd’s OODA loop as an alternative to Kolb’, International Journal of Management Education (2022) [article]
  • ‘Conscripts From Birth: War and Soldiery in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future’, Fantastika Journal (2021) [article]
  • ‘EMSIAC Wars: Reinserting the Human in Bernard Wolfe’s Limbo’, Extrapolation (2020) [article]
  • ‘Lessons from science fiction: Frederik Pohl and the robot prosumer’, Journal of Consumer Culture (2020) [article]
  • ‘The Trouble with Joi’, in Blade Runner 2049 and Philosophy (2019) [book chapter]
  • ‘Microfascism and the Double Exclusion in Flowers for Algernon’, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction (Spring 2019) [article]

Editor

  • ‘Good Practice Guide for Student Experience (GPG#45)’, ed. by M.J. Ryder, Association of University Administrators [guide]

Other publications

  • Widely published in the healthcare press, including: Dentistry, The Probe, DH&T, Private Dentistry, PPD, GP Magazine, Management in Practice, Practice Business
  • Ghostwriter of The E-Myth Dentist (ISBN: 978-1618350251) [book]
  • The Darkest Hour (2018) [novel]

For further details on my publications, please browse my online portfolio. If you have any questions about my publications, or contributions, please contact me.

[Note: All teaching at Lancaster University, unless otherwise stated.]

  • ENGL100 – English Literature
  • MKTG101 – Introduction to Marketing
  • MNGT110 – Introduction to Management
  • MNGT120 – Business and Management: An Introduction to Theory and Practice
  • MKTG222 – Marketing Fundamentals
  • MNGT222 – Work-Based Learning
  • MKTG232 – Advertising
  • MKTG233 – Digital Marketing
  • MKTG234 – Social Media [module lead]
    • Won the Pilkington Award for Teaching (2023) for work on this module
  • MNGT322B – Work-Based Learning
  • MKTG409 – Dissertation
  • MKTG411 – Digital Marketing (1) [module lead]
  • MKTG421 – Digital Marketing (2) [module lead]
  • ENGL419M and ENGL149LS – Research Methodology and Reflective Practice in English Literature
  • MK4526(L7) – Research Methods for the Digital World (University of Central Lancashire)
  • MKTG500 – Marketing Skills Development
  • MKTG506 – Digital Marketing
  • MKTG510 – Deep Dive Dissertation
  • BPFLSSM24T2 – Strategic Marketing and Innovation (University of Buckingham)

Professional development

  • Completed the PGCert in Academic Practice at Lancaster University (2020-2022)
  • Completed Lancaster University’s Associate Teacher Programme (2019-2020) and course ‘Introduction to Teaching at Lancaster’ (Oct 2019)

Accreditations

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) [now Advance HE]

Admin & leadership roles

Organiser 

  • Warhammer Conference, Heidelberg University (September 2024)
  • Intellectual Party, Lancaster University (June 2023)
  • Embodying Fantastika, Lancaster University (Aug 2019) 
  • Postgraduate Research Conference, Lancaster University (May 2018) 
  • Exploring Identity: Between Being and Belonging, University of Liverpool (Oct 2017) 

Speaker

  • ‘Using OODA loops to build sustainable practice into business education’
    European Symposium on Sustainability in Business Education, Research and Practices, Liverpool John Moores University (February 2023)
  • ‘The future of work’
    TEDx, Lancaster University (May 2022)
  • ‘Conscripts from birth: war and soldiery in grim darkness of the far future’
    Embodying Fantastika, Lancaster University (Aug 2019) 
  • ‘Performance, Gender and the Trouble with Joi’
    Current Research in Speculative Fiction, University of Liverpool (Jun 2019)
  • ‘The gates of our world: Vietnam and the (re)birth of biopolitics’
    Human Technologies, Digital Humanities, University of Salford (Oct 2018)
  • ‘Exclusions through time: Charlie Gordon and the biopolitical paradigm’
    After Fantastika, Lancaster University (Jul 2018)
  • ‘The Literature of Drones: Ethics and Remote Killing in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game’
    Current Research in Speculative Fiction, University of Liverpool (Jun 2018) 
  • ‘War and the satire of the body: The Vol-Amp movement in Bernard Wolfe’s Limbo’
    The Human Body and World War II, University of Oxford (Mar 2018) 
  • ‘Artificial Identity: AI Subjectivity in the Far Future’
    Exploring Identity: Between Being and Belonging, University of Liverpool (Oct 2017)
  • ‘Beyond the Horizon: Law, Exception and Conflict in Outer Space’
    Iredell Law Conference, Lancaster University (Jul 2017)
  • ‘“Future Soldiers”: the Soldier, the Citizen and the State’
    Current Research in Speculative Fiction, University of Liverpool (Jun 2017)

Hosted training workshop

  • ‘Building your digital profile’
    Embodying Fantastika, Lancaster University (Aug 2019) 
  • ‘Digital Marketing for Academics’
    Exploring Identity: Between Being and Belonging, University of Liverpool (Oct 2017)

For more information on my conference activities please see my page on conferences and workshops.

Consultancy

I am one of my department’s most active marketing consultants, working with our Partnerships Manager to provide support to local businesses seeking to address specific business challenges.

  • In the first half of 2024 I supervised a project to support the marketing development of The Big Food Project, a food poverty charity based in Blackpool.
  • In April 2023 I led a team to provide consultancy for a geospatial analysis firm working in the North West. As part of this project I employed and managed two student researchers on a four-week contract over the vacation period.

Articles

I am frequently published in The Conversation, and my work has been re-published in the national press. I have also written bespoke pieces for publications such as Coaching Perspectives:

Interviews

  • ‘DoD AI Drones That Can Recognize Faces Pose Ethical Minefield’, Newsweek, 27 February 2023
  • ‘Evil genius: Fly, my pretties, fly!’, The IET, 2 August 2019
  • ‘Scientists create DNA robots that eat and EVOLVE’, Daily Star, 4 May 2019

Radio interviews

  • ‘The Introduction of VAR’, TBS eFM (Seoul, South Korea), 19 August 2019
  • ‘DNA-based robots’, talkRADIO, 12 May 2019

Blogs and podcasts

Advisory board

For more information, see my page on academic engagement.

Awards

  • Pilkington Award for Teaching (2023) [winner]
  • Lancaster University Staff Award – ‘Outstanding Achievement’ (2019) [nominated]
  • Lancaster Gold Award (2019)
  • Student Employee of the Year – ‘Above and Beyond’ (2017) [regional winner]
  • Gompertz Prize for English, Brunel University (2010)

Funding awards

  • Awarded £1,100 by the NWCDTP’s Cohort Development Fund towards the delivery of the conference ‘Embodying Fantastika’ at Lancaster University, 8th–10th August 2019
  • Fully-funded AHRC PhD studentship for three years, including £14,000 per annum and fees paid in full, October 2016 to July 2019

Funding bids

Co-investigator on the following unsuccessful research funding bids:

  • ‘Co-creating a Specialist Care Worker Career Pathway’, National Institute for Health Research: £347,484.73
  • ‘Covid 19: Exploiting Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality for Innovation, Support and Resilience in Arts and Culture’, UKRI: £526,986.26
  • ‘Evaluating Digital Readiness in the Adult Social Care Sector’, National Institute for Health Research: £347,824.42
  • ‘Horizon Europe: Building Social Organisations for Social Care’, European Commission: £578,410.60
  • ‘Social Care Project’, ESRC: £276,181.50

Business, management and marketing

  • Consumer culture / consumption
  • Digital marketing
  • McDonaldization and de-McDonaldization
  • Technology, mass production, Fordism, automation, social media

Education

  • Reflective practice
  • Work-based learning
  • Internships / work placements

Science fiction

  • Authors including (but not limited to): Heinlein, Dick, Le Guin, Pohl, Asimov, Clarke, Vonnegut, Keyes, Disch, Butler, Delany, Verne, Wells

Biopolitics

  • Bare life, state of exception, inclusions and exclusions
  • Theorists including (but not limited to): Agamben, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Badiou

Military ethics

  • Autonomy and responsibility
  • Drones and AWS

Vietnam and the Cold War

  • History, social impact, cause and consequences
  • Technology and social change

Professional Experience

December 2021 to Present – Mental Capacity Ltd

  • Co-director of a new business venture, providing training and support services to health and care professionals in the field of Mental Capacity.

August 2021 to July 2022 – Havas SO

  • Freelance comms consultancy and copywriting for medical PR and marketing agency, Havas SO.
  • Work included support for the Reckitt Social Impact Report 2021.
  • Also provided consultancy on rebranding exercise, leading to the publication of a new website, 2022.

February 2021 to March 2021 – Canterbury Christ Church University

  • Web consultancy work to support the Student Communications unit to improve user journeys and SEO for the ‘Current Students’ section of the CCCU website. 

July 2020 to November 2020 – University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

  • Consultancy work for UCLan to support the launch of the new university website in Contensis CMS. Work involved much stakeholder engagement, project planning, IA design and content writing, alongside technical implementation of requirements in order to meet the very tight deadline.

January 2020 to July 2020 – Lancaster University

June 2017 to July 2021 (part-time remote working)
February 2016 to September 2016 (full-time) – Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU)

  • Communications Officer for the IT department at CCCU. In this role I completely overhauled the IT department’s communications, from its online presence to its print marketing materials and digital displays. I am particularly proud of my work on the department’s internal staff-facing website where I used my GA skills to improve user journeys, while also creating a series of web forms to assist the service desk with internal support requests. This work led to a significant increase in engagement, with pageviews and average time on page up >25%. IT student-facing web-pages for the month of September 2016 were up 400% year-on-year.
  • Key skills: content auditing; report writing; communications plans; Google Analytics; copywriting; stakeholder engagement; blogging.
  • In June 2017 I was reappointed on a part-time consultancy basis, working remotely to support the team with various comms campaigns and project launches.

November 2016 to June 2019 – Lancaster University

September 2017 to September 2018 – Lancaster University

  • Assistant Dean in Lancaster University’s Graduate College, helping with the smooth running of the College, assisting at events and maintaining College discipline.
  • Helped organise and run the Postgraduate Research Conference 2018 including the production of a pre-conference newsletter and a post-conference report booklet shared with key University stakeholders.

March 2014 to February 2016 – Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU)

  • Web Editor for the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences at CCCU. A multi-faceted role, I was initially taken on to oversee the launch of a full set of new web pages ready for the launch of the new Faculty website in August 2014. This project was delivered on time, and exactly to specification, ahead of any other Faculty within the University, and with two months’ less time than any other Web Editor to complete the task. I subsequently completed a comprehensive review project, working to further enhance Faculty pages, and maintain the Faculty as the benchmark for web content within the University.
  • In addition to the above, I was also involved in many elements of digital marketing, sharing my expertise in areas such as social media, blogging, PPC and SEO, with the aim of raising the University’s overall digital profile. I also took on responsibility for the UK Institute for Migration Research (UK-IMR) website.
  • Key skills: digital marketing; stakeholder engagement; project management; information architecture; copywriting; social media; blogs; Contensis CMS; WordPress CMS; Google Analytics; Adobe Photoshop; Adobe Premiere Pro; YouTube; Microsoft OneNote.

August 2011 to March 2014 – EK Communications Ltd (EKC)

  • Senior Writer / Journalist for a PR and marketing agency that specialises in the dental sector. Tasks included ghostwriting feature articles for the national trade press, interviewing clients, completing call-sheets, attending trade shows and events, and supervising / managing the work of junior writers and freelancers. I also worked with one of our clients to ghost-write a book.
  • Key skills: management; detailed market knowledge; verbal and written communication; writing to deadlines; interviewing; reporting; copywriting.

Oct 2010 to May 2011 – ChangYou.com

  • Content Writer for free-to-play MMO publisher ChangYou.com. Work included writing news posts, compiling newsletters, blogging, proof-reading, dealing with content requests, creating a staff style guide, and working to re-write and enhance website content. My role also quickly expanded to include significant work in PR, Marketing, QA, Community Management, and Localisation.
  • Key skills: detailed and comprehensive product knowledge; WordPress CMS; project management; organisation; inter-departmental communication; writing for specific audiences; community awareness; copy-writing.

Other Experience

November 2008 to Present

  • I started this website way back in November 2008 as a way of enhancing my ‘digital footprint’, while also teaching myself valuable skills. Over the years this website has been through several different iterations, originally starting out as a custom-built site on MODx CMS, and more recently, moving on to WordPress.
  • Key skills: MODx CMS; WordPress CMS; working knowledge of HTML/XHTML (all self-taught); copy-writing; blogging; web editing; and social networking skills including Facebook and Twitter.

For a brief history of MJRyder.net, see the blog I wrote to celebrate the site’s 10-year anniversary.

December 2007 to June 2010

  • Official Game Admin: Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun.
  • Forum Administrator: www.strike-team.net.
  • Forum Administrator / Community Manager: www.cncevo.info.
  • Forum Administrator: www.gamerwarzone.com.
  • Global Moderator: www.cncwarzone.com

For more information please see my gaming C.V.

  • Website development work for various individuals including pianist and composer, Dominic Downs.
  • Volunteer Admin Assistant: St Mark’s Church, Ramsgate [approx one year].
  • Volunteer: Pilgrims Hospice ‘Old Bank Book Shop’, Margate [one month].
  • Sales Assistant (Book Department): WHSmiths Ramsgate [approx three years].

Certifications

Testimonials

[Mike] has an amazing knowledge base [...] and is a keen analytical thinker. Mike's work ethic is second to none, his sense of professional responsibility is steadfast and he willingly guides colleagues through their work when help is needed. His intellect and skills make him a valuable part of any team, and it has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside him.
Faye Rhodes Creative Director (Copy)
Mike is one of the most reliable, skilled and hard-working people I’ve ever met. A talented writer, he can turn his hand to any topic or medium with ease. Together with exceptional organisational and communication skills, Mike always meets the brief and the deadline. In fact, he often exceeds expectations [...] A true team player, he will go above and beyond on every project to make sure it succeeds.
Liz Nicholls Press Officer
One of Mike’s core strengths [...] is his ability to adapt to changing work priorities and successfully deliver projects critical to his employer’s success. Mike was a very valued member of our community of digital specialists [at CCCU] and his legacy [...] remains to this day. I very much enjoyed working with Mike and I have great expectations of his future career.
Ian Williams Senior Web Developer